IBM to acquire Polaris?

BANGALORE: IBM is looking at taking over a controlling stake in Polaris Software Lab Ltd, sources said.

The move to acquire Polaris gains significance as it follows the acquisition of i-flex Solutions by IBM's archrival Oracle.

With the acquisition of i-flex, Oracle has an edge over IBM in addressing Banking and Financial Services Industry (BFSI).

IBM is eyeing to fill this gap by acquiring Polaris. The Chennai-based Polaris provides solutions to BFSI segment.

However, Arun Jain, chairman and CEO of Polaris, denied any such move by IBM. “It is just a market rumour,” he said.

Refusing to respond to a specific query in this regard, an IBM spokesperson said, “IBM does not comment on the market speculation.”

Incidentally, an IBM team had recently visited Polaris in Chennai.

Meanwhile, Citigroup Inc. has been pressurizing Polaris to perform better as the latter registered a dip in net profits during the second quarter of the fiscal. Citi holds 43.62 per cent stake in Polaris.

“Citigroup is a long time investor and why should they put pressure on us,” Jain asked.

Polaris had posted a dip of 23 per cent to Rs 13.25 crore in profit after tax for the quarter ended September 30, 2005 from Rs 17.25 crore reported during the year-ago period.

One of the leading products of Polaris, the Intellect Suite, is a full suite of banking software. Web-enabled, multi-currency and multi-lingual, this enterprise platform gives a bank the capability to service markets in diverse geographies and cultures in a multi-channel context.